Eric Krassinger

I saw a recent article in the Post and thought I would post my own opinion. Keep in mind that I love premium cable shows.

1. Lost
2. Carnivale
3. Six Feet Under
4. Sponge Bob SquarePants
5. Deadwood
6. Family Guy
7. Sopranos
8. Weeds
9. OC (I had to throw in a teen drama)
10. How I Met Your Mother

Wild Card

1. Playmakers – I loved this show but it was too much controversy for ESPN to carry.

Honorable Mention:

1. Dexter
2. Futurama
3. Curb Your Enthusiasm (probably should be high on the list because I love it but just started watching it)
4. Rome
5. Big Love
6. Californication

My first two selections were easy since both are by far my favorite two shows. The rest could be in any order.

I am probably missing something that I love on network tv but I just love the plots and mass details of the HBO and Showtime shows. What is your list?

Wow, how can a 5 day weekend go by so fast? I has so much planned for this weekend in terms of getting stuff done and feel like I accomplished barely anything. I look back and wonder what I did with all my time because I didn’t ever sleep more than 8 hours, didn’t catch up on my DVR, and didn’t play any video games (at my house).

I did watch Star Trek on Wednesday along with washing my car which took a good majority of my time. Star Trek was overrated and I think the first hour was boring because they were introducing the characters. I think the next movie could have potential. As far as my car, I spent over 4 hours detailing it. I feel like it is falling apart. I did some sweet super gluing action in the back seat. I am taking it in Wednesday to get it all figured out. As far as the biggest night to go out,  I met some Wash U friends at the new Double D’s even though they don’t call it that anymore. I knew it wasn’t going to be the same when we pulled up and they had valet. It was a karaoke dive bar so it lost some of its allure to me but it was packed beyond belief.  We finished up on Wash Ave which was also packed.

Thanksgiving was all about the Family. We all went to my aunt’s in High Ridge.  The meal was awesome and it was good to see the family.

I did hit up Black Friday but not electronics like I normally do. Instead I went to West County Mall to pick up my jeans. I was really worried about them all week since I paid so much and never had jeans custom fitted. Needless to say, they fit perfectly and I love them plus I got tons of complements all weekend on them. I also picked up a couple shirts but no real deals. We followed that up with a football game in Tower Grove park. I was more sore than I thought from our last game so I was really hurting and pretty unproductive. I also got in some awesome Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. The game is pretty awesome. Think multiplayer NES mario in semi 3d. Matt and I were kicking butt and taking names in it.

I went to the Dads on Saturday for another awesome meal. One thing is for sure…my dad can really cook. I loved seeing Pepper. He was so excited to see me. With all that fun, the best part of the day was the comeback win by Mizzou over KU. Some are calling it one of MUs most exciting games ever. I wouldn’t say that but I cant believe that KU tried passing plays 3 times in a row in the endzone as time was running out….how stupid is that? Saturday night was pretty awesome too. I had a great dinner at Drunken Fish in the CWE followed up by seeing That 80’s Band at the Old Rock House which was awesome. They combined my love of concerts and 80’s musics. I made a brief appearance at Dubliner then decided to go to Pop’s. Killing Vegas was there so got to hear a lot of awesome RATM. The place was more packed than I had ever seen it. There was probably 3 times more people than normal. I also ran into an old friend there too.

Sunday was a relaxing day. What else do you expect after having a late night on the East Side? I slept in really late and then watched Twilight….I know but had to see what the hype was about. I passed out by 7:30.

Wow, what a jammed packed and exhausting 3 day weekend. I could barely get myself up for work on Monday. Needless to say, I did have a lot of fun.

A group of us decided to buy tickets at the last minute to the Party Rock Tour at the Pageant. The tour consisted of LMFAO, Schwazye, Far East Movement, Paradiso Girls, Space Cowboy. Most people (my age) have no clue who LMFAO (or the rest of the groups) even is but they have probably heard their songs before. “I’m in Miami trick” was their first popular song and “La La La” and “Shots” are getting heavy radio play. I didn’t think I knew the other bands but Schwazye has a couple songs that were popular like “Corona and Lime” and “Get U home.” Paradiso Girls was a newer version of the Spice Girls. I guess they have a popular song called “Patron Tequila” but I am not sure if I had ever heard it. They were also just featured in the December issue of Maxim. The other two bands were pretty funny…that’s all I can say about them but all of the 5 groups are part of some popular 2009 songs so I guess the concert was pretty strong in party/pop/rock circuit. Overall the concert was interesting to say the least. I thought I was at a rave with a bunch of 16 yearolds. The 21 and up section was only half full (at max) while the various stages of the main floor had “one in – one out” which I have never seen before at the Pageant. I did see a lot of girls getting dropped off by their moms. What was even funnier was seeing some older regulars of the Party and the Park scene. I sure hope I am not in this scene in 15 and 20 years like them.

Saturday was a long day of enjoying some adult beverages for Mizzou’s final home football game. We had actually been planning this game for 3 months and this was the only game that everyone was available. I stayed out too late and had to be in Winghaven at 8:30 so I got very few hours of sleep. We didn’t get in CoMo and the hotel till about 11AM so we hopped in a cab from the beautiful Red Roof Inn (where we told by the cab driver that a stripper was just killed a couple weeks ago over a drug deal) to the field. We just walked around randomly for a couple hours tailgating and tossing the football. The game was entertaining but I was disappointed in the lack of people in the student section. I was reminded later that night that the students were on holiday break so that explains why there were less people tailgating, at the game, and at the bars. We went back to the hotel for a couple hours then went to Shiloh which was dead then to the Vu because the boys wanted to dance. It was a lot of fun but the Vu is definitely the Buca of Columbia.

We played a football game on Sunday and had a small bbq with some friends. I did not think I would be able to run because I still have some kind of respiratory infection but it didn’t seem to create a huge problem. The newly purchased spikes were a lifesaver. It makes it 10 times easy to play in coverage when wearing spikes. I think I only allowed my guy that I was covering to catch the ball 3 times (max). I also had a pretty good day at QB which really got me thinking about something. I use to be able to throw a great football in grade school and high school but went downhill in college and life after. I’ve had the same issue with a golf club. I could drive the ball so much further in high school than I can now. My new theory on why this is the case is that I have lost a lot of upper body muscle that I gained in college. Most people would say, shouldn’t it be the opposite? You would think but I think it is because I lost some flexibility so some of my quick twitch muscles were not performing up to par. Needless to say, I had a ton of fun at the game but I am extremely sore after a couple collisions and take downs. I can swear I was the only one that kept getting knocked down (except for the time I knocked down Courtney when she got in my way when I was gunning for the Rengler when I was trying to set a block after a pick. My legs are sore but not as bad as I was expecting. My shoulder is super sore from the Rengel take down. I also jammed a finger which is now swollen. As a side note I was told to mention that Courtney is a pretty good player. She had several catches and passing and receiving TDs.

This was a no frills weekend for me because I was sick with something. It wasn’t the flu so do not worry about any H1N1 talk. I never had a fever so this is my reason I do not think I have the flu. I’ve just been really congested and super tired. The bad thing is that it hasn’t seemed to improve in a week.

Needless to say I stayed in both nights….I did not even leave the house once I got home from work on Friday. I was extremely lazy and pretty much lived on my couch. Watched some sports; a bad Lakers loss (but not as bad as Sundays loss), a good Mizzou win in basketball and football, and a good Rams loss (I know its hard to say good but they played well and almost pulled off a huge upset). I also caught up on my DVR and Netflix watching. I watched 3 movies: GI Joe, the new Transformers, and X-Men Wolverine. GI Joe and Transformers were both good. I liked the storyline, special effects, and the amazing sound quality. These were the first Blu-rays that I have ever watched. I think I enjoy the sound quality 10 times more than the picture quality. Nothing is better than being immersed in an explosion that rattles the room. Wolverine was a bit of a disappointment. It was okay to see his storyline on how he was created but then the storied died after that. I was thinking “is that it?” as the movie ended. I was expecting still another hour of a plot.

So nothing really exciting. I am looking forward to the next week though. I am going to Columbia with a big group for Mizzou’s last home game and then have a short work week then a 5 day weekend for one of my favorite holidays because I love turkey dinners.

As a side note, I had lunch with my companies outside photographer who is probably the most interesting person I know. He travels all over the world taking pictures. The interesting thing is that he is always going to places that most people don’t. For example, his next trip is to Columbia, the country. He said you never ride in cars because you will get kidnapped if you do. Instead you either take a plane or a bus to go from city to city. This got me thinking and I really would like to do a trip to Peru. I’ve been talking about it for a couple years now and this is the time to go since it is summer there. He told me some trips to take there like a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu where you pay a guide to basically carry all your gear so you can enjoy the journey. Just something to think about.

Pretty jammed pack weekend for me. Mainly because Mr Matt Rengel got hitched over the weekend. I participated in his fun wedding rehearsal at the Moolah where I won two out of three bowling games we played….not bad since I haven’t bowled for at least 5 years. I was on a bowling “strike” for some reason over that time period.

I hit up The Scottish Arms for dinner on Friday. The thing that stood out the most is how much the Scotch Eggs tastes like an Egg McMuffin. The group ended up going to Mollys which sort of sucked then hit up the new club Europe “on” Wash Ave. The club could have huge potential but I ultimately see it failing.  The reason why it was good was because (1) it was a huge club with a large dance floor which Wash Ave is missing (2) it had a good layout with multiple floors with multiple bars (3) it had a great appearance … the designer put a lot of money into the project. The reason why it will fail is (1) location – This is the biggest downfall. The building is a block north of Wash Ave on 14th st. Its entrance is right across from the Windows off Washington Entrance. This is out of the beating path in both directions plus you can see the building from Wash Ave (2) advertising in general – there is no way to tell that it is even open from Wash Ave. They need to put a sign on the side of the building facing wash ave along with maybe even someone on the street. All in all I think they should have paid the extra money to move closer towards 12th or 13th st where all the action is. We gave up on the place around 12:30 to hit up the never disappointing Rue 13 for 80’s night.

Saturday was the big day of the Wedding. The Wedding ceremony was very good. The party bus, my first ever, was a lot of fun too. The reception at the Lemp Grand Hall was also entertaining but I was very tired. I think it had to do with me coming down with hopefully what is only a cold….I am really struggling today. I did feel really embarrased about a trick that was played on me at the wedding. The DJ called out the wedding party guys for a dance competition. I thought this would be interesting since Smith and Rengel have sweet moves. The kicker was that we had to put a paper bag over our head that had numbers marked on them so the people could judge us. Needless to say I won but found out that everyone took off their bags right away to watch me “act a fool.” I thought something was up in the beginning because I was sort of laying low in the back and they were not disqualifying me. I let it all out though once I was “one of” the last people left. Still not sure how I was chosen to be picked on.

I told my brother a while ago that I would post this but I forgot. My brother is selling his 4-wheeler. Here is a link to the craigslist add. Please contact him through craigslist or me if you are interested.

This weekend went by so quick. Overall it was a decent weekend. I enjoyed the wins by both Missouri and the Rams which is always a plus. The one disheartening thing is that I am not feeling as confident with Missouri’s team. It is pretty obvious that we can not compete if the defense blitzes alot. I would think the other teams we play would also recognize this.

As for the actual weekend. I decided to stay in Friday and catch up on the DVR. I decided at the last minute that I was going to dress up for Halloween. For some reason, I am not a big fan of Halloween. Not sure why. Needless to say, I went as Brendan Ryan because he has a sweet stache. Unfortunately, mine was not as sweet since the Halloween store was out of the good ones and the one I bought was hard to manage. All my friends had no clue who I was but I had at least two people at Harrys tell me. I tried to get a Ryan jersey but couldn’t find one. The stache and the pulled up socks should have given it away. A straight brimmed hat would have helped but I despise wearing hats. Mike P definitely won the best costume award for being Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. The pictures do not do him justice…he even pulled off the Pedro facially expressions.

I can not explain to you how happy I am with ÜberTwitter. I have been using Twitterberry for over a year and was pretty happy with it but also dissatisfied with some recent changes and some bugs from those changes. I searched for a new client a couple months ago since it did not seem like there was any support for Twitterberry but I could not find another application that functioned the way Twitterberry did. That was all until I saw ÜberTwitter in the top 25 downloads of App World.

I at first did not like it because I thought that Twitterberry had a little cleaner look (which it does) plus I liked the shortcut that hitting back always took you to a new tweet. It took me a couple days to realize it but this new app has a ton of features. My favorites all revolve around viewing and sending pictures. The new features are:

1. Being able to preview the “twit pic” in your main window next to the text
2. Seeing the full picture with a single click without having to go into the horrible BB browser
3. The tweet/picture can also be geo tagged and it will show you where you took or uploaded the picture on a Google Map interface in the same screen as your looking on the picture.
4. Being able to directly send a picture after taking it without having to view the picture.

Other new features that I did not have before are:

1. Being able to add or block a user from the app
2. See tweets from people around me (pretty cool)
3. Seach twitter
4. View Trending Topic
5. Full spell check (Twitterberry had it but then lost the feature for replies in the last email.
6. Being able to reply to a group
7. Forward a tweet to an email
8. Monitor multiple twitter accounts from the same app at the same time
9. Integration with Google Talk
10. Send videos in a tweet
11. Visual icon notification for any tweet on the app icon and another icon in the header if you get a reply or direct message. (one of the main reasons I left Twitterberrry.
12. Latitude like locating system which can use GPS, cell towers, or both for my phone.

The app is free but it has a banner on the top that does not bother me at all. I just realized that you can but the full version for $5/year so just did just to support such a fine app.

Another week, another 3 day weekend….I am joking but it sure seems like I have a lot of 3 day weekends. This weekend was bigger than a normal weekend because we had a huge group going to see Missouri play Texas in the Homecoming game while also having my good friend Matt Rengel’s bachelor party.

Overall the weekend went pretty well despite the fact that Missouri got destroyed by the higher ranked and overly talented Texas squad. I was a bit worried about the weekend because it seemed like absolutely no planning went into the weekend which is not in my nature.

We left in a couple groups. Group 1 got to CoMo around 6 on Friday so we decided to go downtown to eat dinner. After going to a couple places, we decided on Campus (formerly Big 12) since we were able to get a table right away. After we were done, we wanted to play some darts so we tried Quintons then went to McNallys where we able to secure a board. We hung out there for a while then went to some random bar to hear Casey play. He was pretty good and sang all the classic songs I know and love. We rounded out the nostalgic night by hitting the tail end of the Vu. Also, we got extremely lucky and Rengel’s brother was the sober driver for the whole weekend so I and the group owe him very much gratitude. I also thank Casey for letting us crash at his place both nights.

We woke up “early” Saturday and met up with the rest of the group to get our tailgating supplies. From there, we decided to try out luck at finding a spot even though it was only noon and we thought our spot next to Reactor was not available till 4PM. We ended up getting a sweet spot right next to the tennis center. As you can see in the picture, we really went all out. It was the best tailgate we had so far. The weather was amazing. I was wearing just a tshirt most of the day.

As for the game there was nothing good about it. What disturbed me even more was our seats. We paid $75 for our tix and were somehow in bleachers above the $35 GA spots. It was actually the exact same section I sat in for the Nebraska game with my GA tickets. I thought we were going to be in the bleachers on the north end zone like our tickets said but obviously not. What really made me furious was the “fans” (if you really want to call them that) in our section. We had a group of 15 so we took the first 3 rows in our section. The issue was that we could not see the field because of the low seats, the railing, and the fans standing in the GA section. The people behind us didn’t care because they wanted to sit and did not care if we couldn’t see the seats. What made me mad is that they got belligerent (cursed and threatened me which is not cool when there are kids around) and even tried to throw us out and a bunch of other people who were standing. The idea of trying to get someone thrown out because they are supporting their team is appalling. We were just minding our own business and trying to enjoy the game and they ruined it. I basically felt guilty for trying to watch the game so ended up watching it on the score board … not cool after paying $75 for tickets. We ended up leaving at half because of the poor game and the seating situation. These fans didn’t even stand on big 3^rd down plays in the 1^st quarter. How is that possible? Might as well watch the game at home on your TV if your not going to get into the game. I totally equate this to fans that only came because it was homecoming and probably don’t even watch games.

As for the night scene, we decided to hit up Tin Can then the new Shiloh since Quintons, Harpos, and Campus had a huge line. What amazes me is the huge number of new bars in Columbia. There seems to be 3 times the places to go. Is there more people going out in Columbia now? Has the house party scene died? I do not remember all the bars being extremely packed so not sure how these new bars can be full. Smith and I ended the night eating some delicious eggs and hashbrowns at Waffle House. All I can say is that Waffle House needs to get some computers in that place to better automate the ordering system. It was a bit ridiculous.

On a side note, I forgot to mention playing the punching game at Tin Can. Somehow we ended up with zero pictures of this even though we did it for at least an hour. Somehow, all the tall and skinny guys in our group kept getting 900s which was high for the whole bar. Most people we getting in the 700s and 800s….girls were getting 500s and 600s. Smith somehow got a 47 when he actually tried so that is a whole other story. I saw some huge guys that looks liked they could kill you with one punch get mid 700s which is what I got in two punches. I think it is flawed by the angle of attack and the way it records. That’s the only way I can explain it. We did have a couple injuries…one being what was thought a broken wrist but turned out to be just a sprain.

Here is the picture from the weekend.

I did almost absolutely nothing productive this weekend and loved every minute of it. I pretty much stayed in my condo the entire weekend. I caught up on my DVR Friday night as well as watched a couple episodes of Dollhouse Season 1 as I am trying to catch up. I am impressed with Dollhouse and it seems to get better as the plot thickens. The last episode I watched which I think was 4 or 5 left me really hanging. Cant wait till watch more.

I met up with some friends Saturday for a chicken dinner at Hodaks then watched the bad MU football game. I have two things to say about this night. One, I am not sure if I like fried chicken anymore. This thought crossed my mind a couple weeks ago after I had been craving KFC for a while and finally went but was disappointed. I then thought the same at Hodaks. Its not that it is bad but there is about 100 dishes that I can think of that are better. Its almost the same reason why I avoided chicken wings for most of my life … I am grossed out by looking at a cooked chicken and all the weird pieces of meat and whatever that it consists of. The weird part is that I can eat chicken wings because wings are normally coated in sauce that masks the appearance. Secondly, why did Blaine Gabbert play that game? His gimp self cost us the game against Nebraska and cost us this game too. We could have easily won this game. He had great protection but kept overthrowing his targets. I am positive that any backup could have bested his play that game.I think the Texas game is going to be disastrous.

On a side note, I had an amazing workout Sunday…did not have the best Saturday but it was still good.  I think the combination of awesome sleep for two nights in a row and no alcohol for a week made my muscles thrive. I blew away my normal lifting capacity in almost every lift.